Wolves fall 1-0 to Manchester City after missed chances and critical errors. Read Dave Porter's key lessons...
We Missed JORGEN STRAND LARSEN More Than Cunha
This isn’t a commentary on who is the better footballer—there isn’t much debate about that—but as a team, the absence of JSL felt more disruptive to the collective than when missing Cunha. This may be accentuated by Cunha being required to play further forward than usual, which blunted the Brazilian’s talents, but all three forward players seemed suppressed to an extent. Yes, this was Man City away—a totally different proposition from what has come before—but Wolves were impacted by the lack of movement and central threat of JSL. Wolves will almost certainly lose Cunha in the summer, but if there was any uncertainty before about Wolves needing a backup striker, this match confirmed it. Rather than deploying a like-for-like replacement, Wolves had to rethink the forward line. Despite creating chances, it lacked the focus of a dedicated number 9.
Errors and Fine Margins
Wolves hit the post twice and had an effort cleared off the line. Wolves were in this game and went toe-to-toe with a Manchester City team who, while weaker than in previous years, had found a run of form. There was much to admire about the way Wolves went about their business, and the casual observer would have been able to see just how Wolves’ march up the table and staggering six-game winning run that had seen them elevate themselves to the dizzying heights of lower mid-table was no fluke. This game, however, turned on two incidents—or more accurately, two Wolves errors.
Error NO.1
Wolves had to score. It was one of those moments you have to watch back from behind your hand with a painful grimace (or file it in the semi-final folder, never to be watched again, that’s what I will be doing). Bellegarde was through, and all that was needed was a very simple pass across the goal for Munetsi to tap in (We assume he would have tapped this in, right?) It looked almost impossible to mess this situation up, but a mess-up it was. The pass was overhit and misdirected; it wasn’t even particularly close. A major opportunity missed. You have to take these chances to beat strong opponents away from home, and if it had been converted, Wolves would probably be talking about headlines involving “Seven and Heaven” today.
Error NO. 2
Oh, Andre. There are two really striking things about the incident that led to the only goal of the game. The first is that Andre is capable of making a mistake. So often we see him spin out of trouble or be so far ahead of the game that trouble barely gets in the same postcode, so to see this happen was almost a shock in itself. The second part is that as soon as it happened, I suspect that every single person associated with Wolverhampton Wanderers collectively knew that we were instantly in trouble because the person usually sweeping this mistake up was the one who was caught. The mistake was near the halfway line, but such is Andre’s importance that if he isn’t there to stem the tide, the goal almost felt inevitable even with so much more work to be done. Cheer up, Andre; we are all allowed the odd mistake, and someone of this class does not make many.
Good, Effective but Sooo Boring!
Man City will take the three points home with them, and they will be pleased—of course they will—but their souls must be empty, drained by the boredom of anti-football. Results and even trophies are only important if you care, and being subjected to this for seasons on end would convert even the most dedicated fans away from football and into their golf clubs or a Saturday shopping trip. Sour grapes and envy, maybe, but I’m not sure that everyone would sacrifice the fun and passion of their club and exchange that for boredom. City have sold their soul for trophies
Defeat but Still Together
The winning run is over. This fixture always looked like a needle likely to pierce the balloon, and so it proved. Wolves still have very winnable fixtures to come, so in reality, the performance here was probably more important than the result. Wolves will have wanted to test themselves. They have unfairly carried the asterisk of only beating teams that were below them within this run of form, but those teams were only below them because Wolves had beaten them. Wolves will have wanted a yardstick to measure themselves by, and while they fell a little short, they looked like a team that was much closer to their opponents than the league position or points tally suggests. The optics at full time of the fans and players cheering together despite the loss may have appeared odd to some, but it was a display of ongoing togetherness. A sign that despite the season being essentially over, it isn’t over, and an unspoken agreement has been reached that next season will see no repeat of the monstrosity which was the first half of this season.
ARTICLE BY DAVE PORTER
Wolverhampton born, East Sussex based supporter. Old enough to have seen the descent to the bottom, young enough to not have experienced the days my friend. Not many Wolves fans to celebrate or commiserate with round these parts, so had to find an outlet to discuss the enormous highs, crushing lows and share the frustrations that only come with following Wolves.